Student’s Screenplay Optioned!!

The Screenplay Workshop alumna Hannah Feller has had her fantastic action screenplay The Money Flight optioned! Hannah wrote The Money Flight during the Winter 2011 Master Class.

Hannah has taken the workshop six times, and she has six screenplays to show for it! She is also in active negotiations with two more of her screenplays (including one option proposal on the table). Yay Hannah!! Hannah is represented by legendary Hollywood manager Marion Rosenberg.

New Workshops – start May 29

Summer workshops start Tuesday, May 29, but be sure to register ASAP for the best selection and to ensure your choice is not filled or cancelled. Plus, if you register by Friday, April 27, you can save $15 to $25 off of regular tuition!

Here’s are the summer offerings:

SCREENWRITING FUNDAMENTALS
Learn in 5 weeks everything you must know to write a screenplay.
Tuesdays 7-9:30 pm, May 29-June 26
See syllabus
Tuition: $225
Pay by April 27: $210

MASTER CLASS
Write a feature-length script or script outline in 10 weeks.
Tuesdays 7-9:30 pm, May 29-July 31
See syllabus
Tuition: $395
Pay by April 27: $370
(Master Class Alumni: take another $50 off)

SKYPE GROUP VIDEO WORKSHOP
Experience in The Screenplay Workshop’s superb curriculum and highly interactive teaching method anywhere is the world you have a high-speed Internet connection!
Saturdays 10 am-12:30 pm CDT, June 2-30
See syllabus
Tuition: $225
Pay by April 27: $210

FLAT RATE SCRIPT CONSULTATION
Your script read, marked-up & analysized, & then reviewed with you in a 90 minute consultation.
$300

PRIVATE SCRIPT CONSULTATION & INSTRUCTION
is also available by the hour at very reasonable prices. See more on our website.

TO REGISTER
Just hit “Reply” and e-mail back to us which workshop or consultation package you are interested in, and we’ll get you enrolled right away!

Skype Group Video Class

The Screenplay Workshop’s superb curriculum is now available anywhere in the world you have a high speed Internet connection! Our Skype Group Video Workshop brings you the same highly interactive experience you’d have if you came to our Austin classroom but without leaving your home.

Utilizing Skype’s group video calling feature, the workshop meets live Saturdays at 10 am CDT with two-way video. In just five weeks, you’ll learn all the basics you need to know in order to write a feature-length screenplay in this fun and accelerated workshop.

See a complete workshop syllabus.

News

Austin Film Society’s Slackerwood website recently sent a correspondent to sit in our story structure class and what did they say? “This class couldn’t have been more helpful” and “one of the more thought-provoking ways to analyze the structure of a screenplay.” Read the whole review.

The Screenplay Workshop is now on Twitter as ScreenplayDoc. Become a follower! Follow @ScreenplayDoc.

Have you “liked” The Screenplay Workshop’s Facebook page yet? You can by clicking here.

Writing Tip: The Rule of 1

At a recent alumni meet-up, we were toasting Hannah Feller getting her script optioned, and someone brought up my Rule of 1 which Hannah’s success is a perfect example of. So I thought I’d talk about it for this issue’s Writing Tip although, technically, it’s a tip about the business of screenwriting instead of the usual process of screenwriting discussion.

The Rule of 1 is this: you get ONE shot when you’re trying to get any given individual to read your script. Let’s say you somehow finagle your way into Steven Spielberg’s office, and he actually agrees to read your script. You get one shot with him (or anybody) — and that’s it! So, you better have your final draft polished before you go knocking on doors. ‘Cause no one is going read a script that “needs some work” and then wait around for you to do the rewrite and read your script a second time! You gotta get it right the first time.

When Hannah had her first meeting with Marion Rosenberg (who would later become her manager), she had THREE scripts ready. Each in a different genre. Each had placed at a script competition. These were polished, professional screenplays! And she was presenting three very different examples of her writing, demonstrating she was a versatile author who was serious about having a real writing career.

Which brings me to what I should perhaps call the
Rule of 3. If you try approach Hollywood with just one screenplay you’re trying to sell, you’re going to have a really limited appeal. No one is very interested in focusing all their time and energy and clout on getting just one script sold. A typical option pays 10% of WGA minimum for a feature script (which is $40,000). 10% of $40,000 equals $4000 for you. And your agent gets a whopping 10% of that: $400! You can barely buy lunch for $400 in Hollywood!

Before you waste their time and yours, consider the Rule of 3. Having a minimum of three screenplays under your belt before you approach Hollywood is a pretty good idea. It’s going to make you a lot more appealing. Because ultimately what agents and managers are looking for isn’t individual scripts to sell. They’re looking for WRITERS, writers who can take on high paying writing assignments. You’re going to have a difficult time convincing Hollywood you’re up for writing assignments with only one screenplay to show for yourself.

The moral of the story: finish your script! Stop obsessing about what the trades say Hollywood is or isn’t buying. Stop wasting your time reading garbage on the Internet. Go, get to work!